Line #103 WesternAnimation/TheDayMyButtWentPsycho


1	[[quoteright:284:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/wtf_cartoon_2.jpg]]
2
3	->''Butts: always one step behind. Years ago, butts rose up to overthrow humanity. But humans fought back, and now an uneasy peace remains as the world waits for the next great buttfighter!''
4	-->--'''[[ExcusePlot The backstory from the intro which explains all you need to know to enjoy the show.]]'''
5
6	Loosely based on Creator/AndyGriffiths' series of grossout/ToiletHumor-themed books of the (almost) [[Literature/TheBumTrilogy same name]], ''The Day My Butt Went Psycho!'' is a Canadian-Australian animated series from Canada's Creator/{{Nelvana}} and Australia's Studio Moshi.
7
8	The series follows the misadventures of 12-year-old amateur buttfighter [[CloudCuckoolander Zack Freeman]], his autonomous and sapient butt [[TheFool Deuce]], and their far more competent female friend and fellow buttfighter [[OnlySaneMan Eleanor Sterne]], who is the daughter of the legendary buttfighter [[TheAce Silas Sterne]]. When not getting themselves into all sorts of wacky butt-related shenanigans, the trio battle [[BigBad the Great White Butt]] and his henchbutts, [[TheEvilPrince The Prince]] and [[DumbMuscle Maurice]] to thwart his evil schemes and prove just how awesome (or lame) they are as buttfighters.
9
10	Along the way, our ComicTrio of heroes will [[LampshadeHanging lampshade a ton of tropes]], [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall frequently lean on the fourth wall]], and settle into an interesting hybrid between {{Deranged\|Animation}} OffModel animation and the more traditional "on-model" style, while dropping all sorts of bathroom puns [[HurricaneOfPuns just because they can.]]
11
12	The show debuted in 2013 on Creator/NineNetwork in Australia and later arrived on Creator/{{Teletoon}} in Canada in 2014. The series ran for 40 episodes over 2 seasons, with the second season being exclusive to Creator/{{Netflix}} (where it was shown in the United States and most other parts of the world).
13
14	Interestingly, the show is actually the second Canada-made AnimatedAdaptation of Andy Griffiths' books, the first being ''WesternAnimation/WhatsWithAndy'', which was based on his ''[[Literature/AndyGriffithsJustSeries Just!]]'' series and incidentally also aired on Teletoon.
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16	Nelvana has every episode up on Youtube, courtesy of their Keep It Weird channel.
17
18	----
19	!!Tropes that apply to this show:
20	* AccidentalMisnaming: Silas can never get Zack's name right and always refers to him by various other boys' names.
21	* TheAce:
22	** Silas Sterne is, hands-down, the greatest living buttfighter, and his team from the Butt Wars, the B-Team, is close behind him in skill.
23	** [[spoiler: Gran Freeman also qualifies, given her secret identity as the Pincher.]]
24	* ActorAllusion: Lauren Collins, best known for playing cheerleader Paige Michalchuk on ''Series/DegrassiTheNextGeneration'', voices Paige the cheerleader.
25	* AdaptationExplanationExtrication: The absence of Eleanor's mom is completely ignored by the show, whereas in the books, her mother's death at the hands of the Great White Butt is a major part of her backstory.
26	* AdaptationNameChange: The term “buttfighter” used in the show was known as “butt hunter” in the books.
27	* AdaptationalDumbass: Zack wasn't quite as goofy and incompetent in the original books and was instead depicted as a much more reserved and sensible kid. Deuce was pretty "psycho" in the books, but that gets taken up to eleven in the cartoon.
28	* AdaptationalHeroism:
29	** In the original book, Deuce was one of the primary antagonists, working with the Great White Butt, The Prince, and Maurice in their scheme for buttkind to overthrow humanity. And while he did perform a HeelFaceTurn by the second book, he was certainly not HeterosexualLifePartners with Zack from the start as the show depicts them as.
30	** The Kisser, one of Silas' B-Team members, was TheMole for the Great White Butt in the books, but he's 100% loyal to Silas in the show.
31	* AdaptationalNiceGuy: In the books Deuce was vengeful and cynical, while in the show, he is dumb and InnocentlyInsensitive at the very worst, but he is generally loyal to Zack, willing to do anything for him.
32	* AdaptationalWimp:
33	** In the preview for the cartoon, Deuce is seen fighting alongside Zack against the evil butts. However in the cartoon, Deuce is cowardly and doesn't like to get involved in battles.
34	** Due to the LighterAndSofter nature of the series compared to the books, the villains aren't quite as dangerous when compared to their literary counterparts, being depicted as {{Ineffectual Sympathetic\|Villain}} [[PunchClockVillain Punch-Clock Villains]] who frequently screw themselves over with their sheer ineptness. This especially sticks out with the Great White Butt, who was actually responsible for killing Eleanor's mom in the books.
35	* AdaptationRelationshipOverhaul: In the books Deuce hates Zack, but in the cartoon he is incredibly loyal to Zack, willing to put himself in danger to make him happy.
36	* AllCheeringAllTheTime: Paige does this constantly. It drives Eleanor crazy.
37	** When Eleanor gets brainwashed, Zack and Duece exploit Eleanor's hatred of this trope by using Paige's cheers in an attempt to deprogram her. Instead, Eleanor ends up speaking [[{{Irony}} entirely in cheers]] for the rest of the episode.
38	* AlwaysSomeoneBetter:
39	** Given how Eleanor is just plain better at buttfighting than Zack, this is a frequent reason behind Zack's buttfighting challenges to her. While he frequently loses, [[TheWorfEffect something]] [[ContrivedCoincidence always]] happens afterwards which allows him to prove himself anyways.
40	** An entire episode revolves around Zack attempting to defy this when discovers he's dead last in ''Buttfighter Monthly'''s Top 100 Buttfighters list - literally losing 99th place ''to a twig'' - by [[ItMakesSenseInContext becoming the owner of an ice cream shop]], a field where he's ''sure'' he'll be the best.
41	** In one episode, a butt wanted to be the best at something but was always upstaged by Deuce.
42	* AndroclesLion: [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] in the episode ''Legend of the'' ''[[{{Bigfoot}} Butt-Squatch]]'' when Zack removes a giant splinter from the titular Butt-Squatch's back, only for the [[NiceJobBreakingItHero beast to unfurl its previously-stuck wings and eat Zack]] as well as Deuce and Eleanor, who tagged along to find the creature.
43	* AnimeHair: Zack, whose hair extends a ludicrous distance forward from his head. {{Lampshaded}} by Silas, who occasionally refers to him as "the boy with weird hair".
44	* AppeaseTheVolcanoGod: In "Silas Says", [[TheDitz Deuce]] orders a group of mind-controlled butts to toss ''him'' into a volcano.
45	* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: When Zack, Elanor, and Deuce wish Gran Freeman's butt, a DrillSergeantNasty par excellence, would loosen up so they can watch the evening's Bummy Rippa marathon, [[spoiler: Zack and Deuce find a way to give them their wish by transforming Gran Freeman's butt into a [[LifeOfTheParty fun-loving butt]].]] However, [[spoiler: Gran's butt]] immediately organizes a massive party which not only prevents them from watching the marathon, but also causes Deuce to go buttserk and destroy the house.
46	* BigBrotherInstinct: Zack often protects Deuce when he is being pursued by an enemy or bully. Examples in "Harmony Day" and "The Flushinator".
47	* BreadEggsBreadedEggs: In "Wacky Wednesday", Deuce grabs one of Silas' artifacts. Zack tells him to put it down as he doesn't know what it is:
48	-->'''Zack:''' It could be a meteorite from Uranus! Or a paperweight! Or a paperweight shaped like a meteorite... from Uranus!
49	* BroadStrokes: The show's exact continuity with the books is vague. While the events of the first book are alluded to in the show's opening as part of the premise's backstory, the show itself makes no further references to anything else connected to the books and a few plot elements of the first book are outright contradicted.
50	* CameraAbuse: In ''Beat Box Butt'', Zack and Eleanor fight the Robutts so that they can save Deuce from being tricked into getting killed by the Great White Butt. While they were battling them and Zack nunchucks a Robutt, the screen shatters into CGI glass, revealing a black screen, and then the action resumes.
51	* CityOfAdventure: Mabeltown is this, what with it being home to the greatest living buttfighters and the mortal enemy of human and buttkind.
52	* CloudCuckoolander: Zack and Deuce, although Deuce tends to be more due to his stupidity while Zack is more genuinely kooky. Zack's voice actor has commented on the matter himself:
53	-->[[https://mactheactor.tumblr.com/post/80628014135/quite-surprised-by-the-general-lack-of-insane "I consider Zack Freeman to be a legitimately crazy person, and I aim to present that in the performance as often as possible.... In addition to the fact that he is very, very girly."]]
54	-->[[https://mactheactor.tumblr.com/post/117066023762/i-just-noticed-that-zach-from-the-butt-show-has "I’ve always performed and thought of Zack as an insane, legitimately crazy person. Like, deep down, he’s far more psychotic than his butt Deuce will ever be."]]
55	* CompanyCrossReferences: In a few episodes, the characters can be seen watching ''WesternAnimation/{{Spliced}}'' or ''WesternAnimation/ScaredySquirrel'' on TV, shows that were also created by Creator/{{Nelvana}}.
56	* ContinuityNod: In "Harmony Day", one of the townsfolk chasing Deuce is armed with a Silas Brand Teddy Bear covered in spikes.
57	* DemotedToExtra: The other buttfighters present in the books, such as Kisser, Smacker, and Kicker, while still in the show, are much less significant characters.
58	* DidYouGetANewHaircut:
59	** In "The Flushinator", Zack, Deuce and Elanor are fleeing from the Flushinator, who is pursuing Deuce. Zack says they have to hurry as their decoy won't fool the Flushinator for long. Cut to the Flushinator looking at the decoy--a drawing of Deuce stuck to a mailbox--and asking "Have you done something with your hair?".
60	** In "Jurassic Fart", Deuce is licked by a giant tongue wearing Zack's coat (ItMakesSenseInContext) while asleep. Waking up and seeing the tongue, he mumbles "Did you do something with your hair? And your face?".
61	* DrillSergeantNasty: Gran Freeman's butt is revealed to be this when she is left to babysit Zack and Deuce in her first appearance. However, she ceases exhibiting this trope in subsequent episodes because [[spoiler: the duo transform her into a [[LifeOfTheParty fun-loving butt]] in the same episode.]]
62	* EdibleAmmunition: While fighting the Zombie Butts from Uranus in "Bring Me The Butt of Silas", Zack uses Deuce as a shooter to fire jellybeans.
63	* EmbarrassingAdGig: Silas Sterne seems to be immune to shame, but his daughter Eleanor is deeply embarrassed by many of the ads her father has appeared in, a lot of which are for products [[NoOSHACompliance that are potentially lethal]], such as a teddy bear covered in sharp spikes.
64	-->'''Eleanor:''' My dad has advertised some weird stuff.
65	* EmbarrassingFirstName: The Great White Butt's real name is revealed to be [[spoiler:Gary]] by his mother.
66	* EndangeredSouffle: {{Lampshaded}} in one episode when Deuce and Eleanor's fighting is wrecking everything Zack does. He comments that he probably picked the wrong day to bake a souffle. Just as he takes it out of the oven, Deuce and Eleanor thunder past. Miraculously, the souffle survives. Then Deuce returns to shout (through a meagphone) how amazing it is that the souffle didn't collapse...
67	* EskimosArentReal: In "They Came From Uranus!", Deuce is pretending to be a Zombie Butt from Uranus when he gets the name of the planet wrong. When Zack calls him out on this, Deuce says it's not his fault he can't remember the name of a stupid made-up planet.
68	* ExtremeOmnivore: Deuce will pretty much eat anything, including inanimate objects and live animals.
69	* FanConvention: In "Comic Butt Convention", Zack and Deuce attend a convention where Zack is given a comic that proclaims him to TheChosenOne, but turns out to be part of a plot by the Great White Butt. Meanwhile, most the butts, including Deuce, are going crazy over a TV show about Vikings. This turns out to be a different plot by the Great White Butt.
70	* {{Foil}}: Jonas to Eleanor. He's [[SpoiledBrat spoiled rich]], brags about the fact his father's money can buy him almost anything, and [[{{Jerkass}} has absolutely no empathy towards anyone]]; in contrast, Eleanor, while also rich, doesn't brag about her wealth, is best friends with Zack and Deuce, frequently has them over to her [[BigFancyHouse house]], and otherwise chooses to live a normal life when not [[NonIdleRich training to be a buttfighter]].
71	* FreakyFridayFlip: In "Wacky Wednesday", Zack and Deuce's souls get swapped by an artifact in Silas' basement. Naturally this happens on the day Zack is to be judged by the B-Team for the Rookie of the Year award.
72	* GassyGastronomy: Subverted in "Runnin' on Empty"; when Deuce loses the ability to fart, he devours many cans of beans so that he can let it out again, but it doesn't work.
73	* GoKartingWithBowser: Just as frequently as VillainsOutShopping, once Zack and company realize the villains (usually the Great White Butt and his henchmen) are actually being sincere, they'll happily let them join in on whatever they're doing - usually because they don't want the villains to have gloating rights.
74	* GemEncrusted: Silas Sterne's toilet.
75	* GrossoutShow: And how! Ironically, the show is actually tamer than the original books in grossout, with the source material featuring stuff like mutant maggots, characters being crushed by giant piles of poop, and the butts being able to fire "brown blobs" at their enemies.
76	* HangingJudge: Judge Booty (a parody of ''Series/JudgeJudy'') in "Butts vs.Zack Dawn of Justice". She seems puzzled by the fact that Zack would want to mount a defence, runs her court room like a game show, and on discovering that Zack is innocent, attempts to sentence first Deuce and then Eleanor (who had nothing to do with crime) instead.
77	* ImpossiblePickleJar: One episode has both Deuce and the Great White Butt daydreaming on what they'd do with a ripped body. Both of their daydreams involve struggling to open a pickle jar, before Granny comes along and opens it for them, to which they say "I totally loosened that up for you."
78	* {{Joke of the Butt}}: As with the books, starting with the title and going from there.
79	* KinderAndCleaner: The books used some much more vulgar references to ToiletHumor, with words like "crap" and "arse" being prominent - something completely absent in the show.
80	* KnowYourVines: In "Snoozing Booty", Zack is trying trick Eleanor into kissing Deuce (ItMakesSenseInContext), so [[UnderTheMistletoe he holds some mistletoe over him]] and claims its the law that she has to kiss him. She points out that that is not an actual law, and that what he is actually holding isn't mistletoe but poison ivy. As Zack runs around screaming, Eleanor then hands him the poison ivy vine to scratch himself with.
81	* LargeAndInCharge: The Great White Butt, much like in the books, is the leader of evil butts everywhere and absolutely gargantuan in size.
82	* LastEpisodeNewCharacter: [[spoiler: Zack's parents]] provide an odd example as they're never mentioned at any point in the series, much like [[MissingMom Eleanor's mother]], giving the audience the false impression that they fall under the ParentalAbandonment trope.
83	* LetUsNeverSpeakOfThisAgain: At the end of "Being Deuce", right before leaving his slacker lifestyle to get paid big money, Silas Sterne tells Deuce to never talk about what happened today again.
84	* LifeOfTheParty: This is what Gran Freeman's butt transforms into when Zack and Deuce introduce her to "fun".
85	* LighterAndSofter: Unlike the books, [[NobodyCanDie no one dies]] and the main villains are far sillier, being content with conquering Mabeltown instead of destroying humanity. However, this also causes some [[AdaptationExplanationExtrication weird problems plot-wise]] (see MissingMom and ParentalAbandonment).
86	* LiteralAssKissing: Kisser, a member of the famous B-team, is a charming bum fighter, highly skilled in the art of lip to bum combat.
87	* LongLostRelative: This version of Eleanor (who had a prosthetic butt in the books) actually has a butt named Smellanor who ran away from home at birth because she thought Silas, who was merely bringing his new-born baby girl and her butt home, had kidnapped her from the hospital. [[spoiler: Too bad she's [[EvilCounterpart evil]] and has Eleanor [[{{Brainwashed}} brainwashed]].]] Not that in the final book, Eleanor does also have a butt she's been separated from for years, but this was because she abandoned it to become a buttfighter.
88	* MadScientist:
89	** Silas is revealed to be this ([[JackOfAllTrades among many other things]]) in Season 2, having built such inventions as a toaster which can be set to cause a deadly earthquake.
90	** Eleanor has demonstrated shades of this, having developed in Season 1 a highly-experimental artificial butt re-oderizor which restores the stink shield of any butt whose human is stupid enough to wash them - albeit with nasty side-effects. Note that in the books, she was also the scientist of her dad's team (creating the prosthetic butts they all used instead), so this does have justification.
91	* Main/MasterOfDisguise: In one episode, Zack, Deuce, and Eleanor challenge each other to a disguise-off to see who can most effectively con their way into the Buttfighter's Ball. Zack's disguises [[PaperThinDisguise fool no-one]] except [[TheFool Deuce]], Eleanor's disguise is flawless (it does help her dad has a computerized tailor), and Deuce, too lazy to make a disguise, sneaks in by [[CuttingTheKnot hiding in a tray carried by one of the robo-butts catering the event]].
92	* MeaningfulName: The members of Silas' B-Team describe their fighting technique; for example, the Kisser attacks using kisses, the Smacker attacks with her fists, and so on.
93	* MechaMooks: The majority of the Great White Butt's forces are composed of a seemingly inexhaustable supply of ro-butts.
94	* MissingMom: Like Zack's parents, Eleanor's mom is never mentioned nor seen in the show, likely due to the fact she's dead in the books at the hands of the Great White Butt and [[NobodyCanDie nobody dies in the show]].
95	* MythologyGag:
96	** In the GrandFinale, "Bring Me the Butt of Silas Sterne", the evil plot of [[spoiler:Silas' butt]] to have all the world's butts switch places with their humans' heads is the exact same scheme that the butts were plotting in the very first book.
97	** The term "Zombie Butts from Uranus" is dropped several times throughout the series, referencing the title of the second book.
98	* NamedByTheAdaptation: Deuce had no name in the original books, and was only called “Zack’s butt” in them.
99	* NeverMessWithGranny: Zack views his grandma as someone old he has to protect. However she is secretly one of the greatest butt fighters.
100	* NobodyCanDie: One of the ways the show is LighterAndSofter than its books. In the books, the AnyoneCanDie trope is quite prominent with Silas and Gran being among several major characters from the show to be killed at some point in the books, while in the show, everyone remains alive and well to the end.
101	* NonIdleRich: Eleanor and Silas Sterne, [[DownplayedTrope believe it or not]].
102	* NonLethalWarfare: Combat in the show involves plunger guns, Gatling toilet paper guns, stink bombs, and other such weapons befitting the show's [[ToiletHumor toilet humor]].
103	* NoProductSafetyStandards: An episode shows many of the products that Silas has lent his name to, including the Silas Brand Teddy Bear "for the child you only sort of like". It is covered in spikes and bursts into flames when hugged.
104	* OddOrganUpTop: Butts have lives and humanoid bodies separate from the people they're supposed to be attached to.
105	* OneOfTheBoys: Eleanor is almost always seen hanging out with Zack and Deuce and doing the things they do (usually so long as they aren't especially stupid things).
106	* OnlySaneMan: Eleanor is this in comparison to Zack and Deuce (''especially'' Deuce), frequently [[{{Facepalm}} facepalming]] at the many insane schemes the two have concocted over the course of the series. She increasingly becomes this in comparison to her father in Season 2, where his otherwise-average intelligence [[{{Flanderization}} begins to decline to the same levels as Zack]].
107	* ParentalAbandonment: {{Averted}}. Zack's parents, despite what the show would make you think otherwise, [[spoiler: are revealed in the finale to be alive and well as buttfighters in the same capacity as in the books.]]
108	* PunnyName: A regular occurrence with episode names, which usually make some sort of butt-related pun on a pre-existing work's title. Examples include ''[[Film/TheTerminator The Flushinator]]'', ''[[Theatre/AllsWellThatEndsWell All's Smell That Ends Smell]]'', and ''[[Literature/JourneyToTheCenterOfTheEarth Journey to the Center of Mabeltown Crack]]''.
109	* RaisedByGrandparents: Zack and Deuce are raised by Zack's Gran.
110	* ReadingTheStageDirectionsOutLoud: In "Bring Me the Butt of Silas", the mayor is making a speech:
111	-->"And now it is time to thank our protector. Points to Silas."
112	* RealWomenDontWearDresses: This is Eleanor's [[{{InUniverse}} in-universe]] reaction to Paige and her cheerleading squad, who, despite their outward appearance and [[AllCheeringAllTheTime mannerisms]], are more than capable of [[GirlyBruiser fighting off the Great White Butt and his henchmen]] ''and'' [[SuperStrength chucking full-size furniture]] [[MusclesAreMeaningless through a third-story window]].
113	* RearWindowHomage: The episode ''Cheer Window'' is this, with Eleanor as L. B. Jeffries, cheerleader Paige as Lars Thorwald, and Zack and Deuce as Lisa Carol Fremont and Stella, respectively. [[spoiler: However, instead of Paige being wrongfully accused by Eleanor of murdering someone, she's wrongfully accused of helping the Great White Butt take over Mabletown. [[VillainsOutShopping He just wants to learn cheerleading.]]]]
114	* RearWindowInvestigation: Done as part of the RearWindowHomage in "Cheer Window", where Zack and Deuce finds themselves trapped in Paige's house between Paige and her cheerleaders and the Great White Butt.
115	* ScaryStingingSwarm: In "Bums of Steel," Zack, Eleanor, Deuce and the villains are stung after a random mook breaks a beehive, and are shown nursing their wounds with toilet paper shortly after.
116	* SensitiveGuyAndManlyMan: Deuce is the sensitive guy to Zack's manly man, while Zack is the sensitive guy to Silas's manly man.
117	* ShoutOut: In ''The Old Butts and The Sea'', Zack and Duece started jumping in the air after they win a denture fight while pretending to be old and wrinkly people, which was caused by being in their hot bathtub for far too long. But when an old butt disturbs their victory after he finds out that they were actually young and smooth-skinned people, they both freeze in mid-air and the camera rotates around them and everybody else in CGI until Zack says, "Uh... We're still spinning", and then he and Deuce wave and smile at the old butts and humans and then they both come back down to the floor, mimicking [[Film/TheMatrix The Matrix]].
118	* SomethingWeForgot: In "Basic In Stink", Deuce gets stuck at the top of the detector. As Zack and Eleanor are carried away on the shoulders of the jubilant crowd, he keeps waiting for them to come back for him. They don't.
119	* SpoiledBrat: Jonas, who lives next door to Zack, can get almost anything he wants, whether it be through his father's outrageous wealth or his robo-buttler, and rubs it in everyone's face.
120	* SteppingStoneSword: In "Basic In Stink", Zack fires a series of plungers on to the Butt-squatch before running up them to kick the Butt-squatch in the face.
121	* ToiletHumor: If the fact that people's butts are sentient and can detach from people's bodies doesn't clue you in, go watch the show. It ''revels'' in it.
122	* ToothbrushFloorScrubbing: Gran Freeman's butt makes Zack and Deuce do this when she is left to babysit. [[{{Squick}} Deuce uses Zack's toothbrush]].
123	* VillainsOutShopping: When they aren't trying to destroy or conquer Mabeltown, the villains, specifically the Great White Butt and his cronies, will be out doing mundane things, like eating burgers, organizing birthday parties, or learning to be cheerleaders, without displaying any malice towards the town, its populace, or their arch-nemeses. Despite how frequent the villains do this, though, Zack and company usually don't believe them; how much convincing it takes them to change their minds varies by episode.
124	* WholesomeCrossdresser: Silas occasionally dabbles in this, best demonstrated when he wore a ''very'' girly pink dress for the Buttfighter's Ball.
125	* WriteBackToTheFuture: In ''The Flushinator'', Zack, currently trying to stop an {{Expy}} of [[Film/TheTerminator the Terminator]] writes a message in wet cement, asking his future self to travel back in time and hide a futuristic freeze ray in the bushes beside the sidewalk. He then reaches into the bushes and finds the freeze ray there.
126	* WrongParachuteGag: In ''Flush of Dooty'', Deuce opens his parachute for nothing but a stack of cheek burgers to come flying out.

Context WesternAnimation / TheDayMyButtWentPsycho